Deborah Jacobs has been a part of the American Civil Liberties Union for more than 20 years, serving as executive director of the New Jersey affiliate for the past 13. Jacobs is leaving the ACLU this summer for the Ms. Foundation for Women in New York, where as vice president for advocacy and policy she’ll work on gender equality issues, including economic justice, reproductive rights and child sex abuse.

During her tenure as head of ACLU-NJ, she has aggressively advocated for accountability from state and local police charged with racial profiling and brutality, and for the release of public records. She has also led the cause against undue assaults on due process and privacy rights in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Star-Ledger editorial writer Linda Ocasio spoke with Jacobs about the state of our civil liberties and the challenges ahead for her successor.

Q. What is the state of our civil liberties?
A. Nationally, we have lost a lot of ground since Sept. 11, and unfortunately President Obama has perpetuated many of the measures implemented by George W. Bush, when we thought he would have rolled them back. Polarization in the U.S. has made it harder to get sensible laws, and balance and compromise. We’ll be dealing with those issues for many years to come.

Q. But polls show the public still largely supports the extraordinary measures of surveillance granted under the Patriot Act.
A. Polls on civil liberties reflect that our schools haven’t done a good enough job explaining how our democracy functions, why we’re founded on a platform of individual freedoms, and why those freedoms are still important today. Almost no one has classes in “civics” anymore to explain who we are, and why.
Americans know the U.S. is a great nation, but we don’t all understand what it took to get here, and what we have to do to preserve our greatness, such as letting people say things we don’t want to hear, and act in ways we might not agree with, and hold beliefs and practices of their choice. Another piece is how we absorb information as adults, the speed of news, TV, sound bites and the general lack of depth in our introspection as a nation.

Q. Some people might say the Patriot Act works because we haven’t been attacked again.
A. I’m not aware of the elements of the Patriot Act stopping any attacks. Many of these measures manipulate us and leverage our fears. If you study accounts of terrorism-related arrests, it’s generally good old-fashioned investigative policing — following leads and identifying potential threats based on individualized suspicion — that makes a difference.

Q. The ACLU famously defended the right of Nazis to march in Skokie, Ill. Has the public’s understanding of your work improved since then?
A. People understand the principles of free speech so much more in last 30 years, and that the answer to speech you don’t like is to make noise with what you do like. The ACLU always stays true to free speech.
We represented a New Jersey Transit employee after he burned a Quran at the World Trade Center site. At the same time, our New York office was fighting for the right of an Islamic Cultural Center to be built nearby. The ACLU will continue defending Muslim and other minority communities against surveillance, such as the ethnic mapping conducted by the NYPD in Newark.

Q. On the local government level, what have been the challenges?
A. When public officials act against the interests of the taxpayers while also defying clearly stated laws. We’ve seen city councils dig in their heels over, for example, holding prayer during a meeting, going counter to their own attorney’s advice, to make some kind of point, even if it costs a lot of money. Or, some refuse to release documents under open records laws. The city of Newark still refuses to release e-mail discussions about the Facebook donation. When governments refuse to give the public what they’re entitled to, it’s a lose-lose proposition.

Q. What should be on your successor’s radar?
A. Women’s rights are of particular concern and sensitivity now. I’m utterly bewildered by politicians who vote against equal pay, or talk about medical procedures like transvaginal ultrasounds that many women regard as legislated rape. Just the idea that women make up half the nation, the half that takes care of people and children, and there is so much disregard for women’s health and safety. It’s not about lawsuits, but shaping opinion, and getting at why there is so much hostility toward women.

At the state level, police practices continues to be a key concern. Even though holding the police accountable is a never-ending chore, it’s essential to stay on top of it. Nothing is more undermining to society than people being afraid of those charged with protecting them. And this is one of those issues where “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.”
For example, since the federal government ended its consent decree just a couple years ago, the State Police have had one scandal after another. There’s a real crisis there. The Department of Justice barely made it back to Washington, D.C., before the State Police started backsliding.